One Love, Loudly

It is interesting, having now lived in a rented condo across from an Arts Park for 7 months now.  We've seen, and more importantly heard, a wide variety of concerts.  I'm intrigued by the difference in decibels.

Last night, we were treated to the Maestro Marley Cup.  It actually started at 11:00 a.m. yesterday, but we didn't hear much of it until the evening.  I wish I liked reggae music more.  To be fair, I wouldn't like any music that was inescapable the way that the music last night was.  Even with the hurricane proof doors closed, the music was so loud that we couldn't hear the T.V.

Happily, not every concert is at that decibel level; so far, only the soca festival in August has been.  We've had the opportunity to hear other festivals and concerts at a much more enjoyable level, where if we didn't want to hear a concert, we could certainly do something else.

Even knowing how much people paid for the music we got to hear for free wasn't enough to ameliorate my mood last night.  Even knowing that I was hearing the offspring of musical legend Bob Marley wasn't enough to make me appreciative.

We knew that it might be a loud concert.  Throughout Friday afternoon and evening, we heard sound checks and felt that sense of dread.  We reminded ourselves that we didn't have to stay.  We could even spend Saturday night somewhere else--take a little trip.  

But we couldn't go too far away because we needed to be back for church on Sunday.  And then Saturday didn't seem too bad.  We had a mid-afternoon meal, and the noise level was hardly noticeable.  We decided to stay put.

By the time it was bad, we only had a few more hours of concert to endure--hardly worth the cost of a hotel room.  We went to the downstairs gameroom and played many, many games of pool.  I returned to the condo with a slight headache from the sounds of pool which quickly intensified because of the music.

At least it wasn't thumping music, the way the soca festival was.  And it did end right at 11:00, when it was scheduled to end.  And now that I'm underemployed, I'm not as grumpy at missing all the possibilities of a week-end day as I might have been.